357 Oh the Irony

This evening, we cuddled up and drank hot chocolate by the fire.

Sort of.

Thanks to Netflix, we got to watch the crackling yule log for the fire ambiance.

The funny thing is, we actually have a fireplace.

But unfortunately, the only place we could put our tv was right in front of it.

353 Chilly Night

After a long day of unpacking and rearranging, the LT convinced me to leave the house. We drove out to an outdoor shopping area and walked around for a little bit. It was pretty cold, but we enjoyed the lights and new stores.

On a side note, this photo was taken with my phone and no matter what I did, it always made the lights look like this!!

349 More Exploring

After another long day of unpacking, we decided to take a break and check out Columbia.

First, we drove down to the temple.

GORGEOUS!

We are so excited to have one close to us here!

After that we drove to downtown Columbia and checked out an area called the Congaree Vista. It sits near the Congaree river. 

It was a beautiful downtown strip, all lit up for Christmas.

So far, we really like Columbia!

348 Exploring

We drove down to post today to check things out.

One of the first things we saw after going through the gate was the Finance museum.

We were all pretty shocked that it existed!!

I made the LT turn around so we could check it out.

It was pretty much what we expected... tiny, and a little boring.

It was still cool for the LT to see that his branch has some recognition!

333 More Catch Up

Another day, another dear friend!

332 Catching Up

Today I stopped by to visit an old friend. We had a great time visiting, it's so easy to pick up right where we leave off, no matter how much time as passed. I also got to meet her new sweet baby boy. He's waving his little foot "hello!"

331 Photo Shoot

I shot pictures for a friend's family tonight. I had a blast because they are such a fun family! We hit up Old Town Scottsdale and tried some fun shots under the moon and Christmas lights. I LOVE how they all turned out!

316 Birthday Celebration

My little niece Soph turns 3 this week! After family dinner tonight we sang to her and ate some cake. These four are SO happy to be together again!!

315 We're Heeeeere!!

In AZ! And we couldn't be happier!!

313 Girls' Night!

As much as I have complained about living in Columbus, I can't complain about the great friends I have met here. I know all of these dolls from church, and they are all army wives as well. I feel like I've known them forever!! Two of us are moving on soon, so we had one last get together. We had a lot of fun chatting and being silly. I will certainly miss them, but I know I will see them all again!!

308 Temple Trip

Now that the DQ is 12, she is able to do work in the LDS Temple. 

Today was a youth temple trip and so the LT volunteered to drive up to Atlanta and help out.

It was a great day for them to spend some time together, and a beautiful and spiritual experience for the DQ!

302 Dinner Party

We had friends over for dinner tonight. They have two boys and I was worried that our pink, princessy house would bore them. They did alright, but once the DQ turned on the Kinect, they were in heaven!

300 Everybody Dance Now!

The DQ went to the Halloween dance at school today. She is still involved with several clubs there, and has been helping organize the event. She even went early and stayed late to help out!

The kids wore costumes and she was really excited to wear hers. She reminded me several times that she was going to enter the "most creative" contest.

And guess what!?

She won!

Well, she technically tied, but the boy she tied with had a store-bought costume, so in my mind, she won.

She still got a super cool "Most Creative" sash and another sash made out of candy.

Can you guess what she is??

Hint: She is not wearing the mask or snorkel...

She's a diver entangled in a jellyfish!!

299 Tailgating

Since the LT works closely with the Commanding General here, we were invited to a tailgate party at his home before the Fort Benning Doughboy's football game. I was not thrilled about going because there were not many LTs invited, but it turned out to be really nice. The LT about fell down dead when I whipped out my camera and asked a woman to take our picture. I know he gets annoyed with my constant snapping, especially at work functions, but I waited until most people had cleared out. And hey, it's not like I said "Let me get a picture of you and the general!" 

Anyway, since I had someone take it, I set it to manual so the poor woman wouldn't have to take six pictures while I made sure the lighting was right. And I am posed pretty awkwardly, but there aren't many photos of the LT and I on here, so here we are in front of Riverside, all gussied up for the tailgate party!

297 Boo!

Inspired by some photos I'd seen floating around the internet, we decided to "Boo!" some friends in the neighborhood. The theory is to leave some Halloween surprises at someones door, and "ding-dong-ditch" them so it's a surprise. We baked cupcakes and put together little buckets. The girls were really excited to deliver them. We decided not to leave them at the door because, I don't know about you, but I'm not exactly willing to eat things that I don't know the origin of. It was fun too because we got to see the joy in the little kiddos faces when they saw their goodies. We really do love our friends here on post!!

289 Sunset Dining

We drove out to Auburn tonight in the hopes of procuring 2 chairs to use as photography props. The seller hadn't gotten back to me, but we drove out there anyway, in the hopes that he would so that I could have them for a session tomorrow.

Unfortunately, no word back.

We consoled ourselves with dinner at Chipotle.

It was well worth the drive.

Chipotle is across the street from the engineering building at Auburn. This is the gorgeous view!

286 Showered

Tonight I went to a baby shower for a good friend (the one in the middle...can you even tell she is 2 weeks away from having a baby!?). It was great because it was in the evening and I was able to catch up with some great friends with no kids around! These three ladies have been such amazing friends and I am so grateful for them. The fact that we are moving is starting to sink in. I feel like I've known these girls forever and I will be really sad to leave them! But as I've mentioned before, it's just "see you later" in the Army. I know we'll meet again some day!

284 Rainbow Dasher

We went to try to find wintery clothes yesterday and came home with only a Rainbow Dash (from My Little Pony) shirt that is a size too big. I mean, it was only $3, how could we pass that up!? 

Well little Bean refuses to wait until it fits her (it's really not that big on her) and insisted on wearing it again today. She has added these butterfly wings because Rainbow Dash is a pegasus. 

Bean zipped around the neighborhood on her bike pretending that she was Rainbow Dash.

Life is good when you're 6.

281 Bonfire!

Some friends invited us over to roast marshmallows this evening. The day had been pretty warm, but once the sun started going down, it got pretty chilly! This little guy LOVES the DQ. He was so excited to hang out with her!! We will certainly miss good friends when we move.

280 Who Are These Two!?

We went to a birthday party today and these silly glasses were in the goody bags. The girls thought they were hilarious. They certainly look pretty silly!